Apple on Wednesday released the second developer preview of its upcoming Mac OS X Lion operating system due this summer, but contrary to recent reports, the pre-release software is not a Gold Master.

The beta software, labeled Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 2 and carrying build number 11A419, is available to registered developers through the Mac App Store after requesting a redemption code.

It was accompanied by Mac OS X Lion Server Developer Preview 2, also carrying the same build number, as well as Xcode 4.1 Developer Preview 2 -- a pre-release version of the Mac OS X development environment provided by Apple.

Contrary to recent reports published by TechCrunch, however, the new builds are not Gold Master candidate status and instead contain roughly a dozen known issues each.

For instance, Apple reportedly told developers that Thunderbolt devices are not fully supported, users with NTFS volumes (such as BootCamp) may experience a panic during reboot or shut down and videos purchased from the iTunes Store will not play on early 2011 MacBook Pro models.

Apple also reportedly warned developers that the new Recovery HD feature in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will not be created on unsupported partition schemes and that iPhoto 9 will crash when users try to create a book, card or calendar from an event or album, and when clicking a photo's info button.

People familiar with the matter report that known issues with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Server include: installation problems when using local or caching Software Update, new sharepoints not inheriting group permissions and support for just Safari when using Wiki Server and Profile Manager. Additionally, Lion Server does not yet include support for Podcast Producer Server, NetBoot/NetRestore from install source, and booting into a NetRestore.

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will be the eighth major release of Apple's flagship operating system. The Cupertino, Calif., Mac maker unveiled the upgrade in October of last year at the Back to the Mac event. The first developer preview was released in late February and contained several previously undisclosed features, including AirDrop and FileVault.

Last month, security researchers reported being invited by Apple to examine Mac OS X 10.7 for security flaws in an unprecedented move by the company.

Earlier this week, Apple announced it would be showing "off a preview of the future" of Mac OS X at its Worldwide Developer Conference June 6-10 in San Francisco's Moscone West just over two months from now.

Rumors suggest that the event will focus on software (including Apple's new mobile iOS 5, which has not yet been publicly announced), rather than being a "hardware event."

Tickets to WWDC sold out the day they went on sale. The event is limited to the capacity of the Moscone West building, and the constraints of making around 1,000 Apple engineers available to developers and presenting more than 100 technical sessions during the week-long event.

For more information on new features in the forthcoming update, see AppleInsider's Inside Mac OS X 10.7 Lion series.

Anyway, I've installed it and there are a lot of improvements. Safari is much better and Graphite has returned, although iCal no longer seems to honor such a setting, using Aqua no matter what.

I have yet to download it, probably will later tonight. I noticed that lion was extremely bad at memory management with larger things such as firefox and safari before, as well as with normal computing things going on, how are things going for you?
Mission control also seemed to be pretty slow, has that sped up?

Many of the problems I encountered before were performance issues and a couple of in your face bugs lol.

Speaking of bugs, I've still found that the contextual menus in System Preferences do nothing. This was reported in the previous build and still hasn't been fixed yet. Other bugs that still persist are the vectored cursors and videos not working properly in iTunes (although the latter was noted in the seed notes.)

I have yet to download it, probably will later tonight. I noticed that lion was extremely bad at memory management with larger things such as firefox and safari before, as well as with normal computing things going on, how are things going for you?
Mission control also seemed to be pretty slow, has that sped up?

Many of the problems I encountered before were performance issues and a couple of in your face bugs lol.

I have not noticed any drastic speed increases with Mission Control, nor has there been any consistency between the use of "Spaces" and "Desktops." I think Mission Control was essentially ignored in this preview and will be focused on in a later build.

Also, on a slightly unrelated note, DP2 was also available in a Server configuration, which previously goes against what Apple had said earlier... That it was uniting the client and server builds. DP1 did not have a separate server release.

I hear RIM, Dell and Microsoft are already criticizing Apple for releasing the Lion Developer Preview with known issues.

"Apple thinks its game is pristine. Well, how are you a billion-dollar company and still release software full of known issues? Apple's closed system prevents the world from helping it release quality software, developer preview or not; had Apple opened its libraries and DLLs and registries, it wouldn't have this issue. Instead, they heap upon developers an OS full of bugs and asks them to ferret out these issues," said all CEOs of second-place and worse envious companies.

One thing I've also noticed is that DP2 by default puts your user name on the menu bar, and I haven't found a way to disable it yet. This is useful if you have a shared machine and use user switching, but if you don't, it seems to create unnecessary visual clutter.

Speaking of bugs, I've still found that the contextual menus in System Preferences do nothing. This was reported in the previous build and still hasn't been fixed yet. Other bugs that still persist are the vectored cursors and videos not working properly in iTunes (although the latter was noted in the seed notes.)

10.0 was beta and Apple made no effort to hide this. They said it was beta and they sold it as a paid beta.

Vista was sold as a fully blown OS when in actual fact it was a $1000(NZ) beta (Ultimate edition).

HUGE difference.

I'm not saying Mac OS X is bug free but considering the lengths Apple goes through to get beta testing done by giving the product to real world developers it is actually more than Microsoft has done. Yes they provide betas but their betas are more like alphas and are thus far from what people will be using in the real world.

Also what the hell are you talking about contextual menus in System Preferences? When has System Preferences ever had contextual menus? Why would you even need contextual menus in System Preferences?

Also, on a slightly unrelated note, DP2 was also available in a Server configuration, which previously goes against what Apple had said earlier... That it was uniting the client and server builds. DP1 did not have a separate server release.

I think this maybe because it's a developer preview.

It kind of makes sense that when you're merging two systems for the first time you'd build them seperate to ensure that their feature sets are sound then merge them and work out any kinks. It probably won't be until Developer Preview 3 or 4 until we see Server merged with the main Mac OS X. Just because it isn't there in Developer Preview doesn't mean it's not going to be in the final release.

10.0 was beta and Apple made no effort to hide this. They said it was beta and they sold it as a paid beta.

Vista was sold as a fully blown OS when in actual fact it was a $1000(NZ) beta (Ultimate edition).

HUGE difference.

I'm not saying Mac OS X is bug free but considering the lengths Apple goes through to get beta testing done by giving the product to real world developers it is actually more than Microsoft has done. Yes they provide betas but their betas are more like alphas and are thus far from what people will be using in the real world.

Also what the hell are you talking about contextual menus in System Preferences? When has System Preferences ever had contextual menus? Why would you even need contextual menus in System Preferences?

I meant the contextual menu you get on the Dock icon, it doesn't work, but appears to be a known bug.

It kind of makes sense that when you're merging two systems for the first time you'd build them seperate to ensure that their feature sets are sound then merge them and work out any kinks. It probably won't be until Developer Preview 3 or 4 until we see Server merged with the main Mac OS X. Just because it isn't there in Developer Preview doesn't mean it's not going to be in the final release.

But what I'm saying is DP1 had merged the two, now they are separate in DP2.

There's absolutely no way this will be released this summer. It would be prudent that they take their time with such a major release. Glad Apple stated a preview would be demo'd at WWDC. Late fall would be more likely when the puppy is released.

We'll get the real feature list at WWDC including those things not mentioned the last time Lion was previewed.

There's absolutely no way this will be released this summer. It would be prudent that they take their time with such a major release. Glad Apple stated a preview would be demo'd at WWDC. Late fall would be more likely when the puppy is released.

We'll get the real feature list at WWDC including those things not mentioned the last time Lion was previewed.

nah it will be out by the summer - july or august. Apple sticks pretty close to its announced scheds for major items. and it's got other good stuff to hype in the Fall.

yes, the full and final beta will be released at WWDC. not quite the GM, but close. and yes, we should expect some final surprises then.

There's absolutely no way this will be released this summer. It would be prudent that they take their time with such a major release. Glad Apple stated a preview would be demo'd at WWDC. Late fall would be more likely when the puppy is released.

We'll get the real feature list at WWDC including those things not mentioned the last time Lion was previewed.

I really don't think so, I think an early summer release is more than possible. Not to mention Apple did say they were on track for a summer release. Not that a delay couldn't happen or hasn't happened before, but overall, the Lion Developer Previews are, so far, far more stable than the equivalent Leopard or Snow Leopard builds were.

10.0 was beta and Apple made no effort to hide this. They said it was beta and they sold it as a paid beta.

Vista was sold as a fully blown OS when in actual fact it was a $1000(NZ) beta (Ultimate edition).

HUGE difference.

There has been a large number of bugs in SL, Leopard, Tiger which took a few service paks to resolve, don't try and claim Apple is any different.

Now, Vista Ultimate might have been that price, but who actually purchases a full copy? the vast majority of people will get it as an upgrade, or OEM copy. I have a Dell Optiplex 960, it came with Vista Ultimate 64 on it, I only paid NZ$700 for the PC including the Windows licence

One thing I've also noticed is that DP2 by default puts your user name on the menu bar, and I haven't found a way to disable it yet. This is useful if you have a shared machine and use user switching, but if you don't, it seems to create unnecessary visual clutter.

There normal ways arent working?

Turn off Fast User Switching Menu from System Preferences.

Hold down Command and then click on the name to move/remove the item.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

There has been a large number of bugs in SL, Leopard, Tiger which took a few service paks to resolve, don't try and claim Apple is any different.

Vista harasses me on an almost weekly basis to install one update or another. It gets really irritating when running within VM Fusion.

The term "Service Pack" is very much a Microsoft term for its operating systems.
I find its application to OS X distasteful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfanning

Now, Vista Ultimate might have been that price, but who actually purchases a full copy? the vast majority of people will get it as an upgrade, or OEM copy. I have a Dell Optiplex 960, it came with Vista Ultimate 64 on it, I only paid NZ$700 for the PC including the Windows licence

It implies that either Microsoft finds it far more expensive to provide its OS directly to customers than to OEMs or that, seeing that the current Windows Ultimate (Windows 7) is $500 New Zealand dollars, your PC is worth only 200.

Yeah, I got the first method to work for me. For some reason, System Preferences locked everything down for me, even though I never told it to, maybe it's a default I wasn't aware of. As for the second method, I actually didn't know you could do that.

Vista harasses me on an almost weekly basis to install one update or another. It gets really irritating when running within VM Fusion.

How is it any more harassing than the updates OS X wants to install?

If you don't want to see the updates, turn off the automatic update function/

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiA

The term "Service Pack" is very much a Microsoft term for its operating systems.
I find its application to OS X distasteful.

Why? Are you embarssed that OS X needs fixes applied to it? Get over it, OS X isn't perfect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiA

It implies that either Microsoft finds it far more expensive to provide its OS directly to customers than to OEMs or that, seeing that the current Windows Ultimate (Windows 7) is $500 New Zealand dollars, your PC is worth only 200.

No, it implies that MS provides a discount to a customer that purchases a large number of their products, I think you will find that all companies do this for their customers.

Yeah, I got the first method to work for me. For some reason, System Preferences locked everything down for me, even though I never told it to, maybe it's a default I wasn't aware of. As for the second method, I actually didn't know you could do that.

1) Its done that for as long as I can remember as to protect the User Account settings.

2) Its useful for Menu Bar items written in what I assume to be Cocoa (as it doesnt work for older apps that sit in the Menu Bar) as you can move them around to positions that suit your needs. It makes apps iStat Menus more configurable.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

Those items are propagated throughout the OS enough times that I dont expect them to change.

WiFi is clearly more common and better understood than AirPort, but Spaces and Desktop(s) could be a bit confusing.

My only concern with Mission Control is 1) the inability ability to rearrange the Desktops and fullscreen apps order and 2) the ability to rename the Desktops to something more instructive.

I still think being able to assign a custom name to each Desktop is coming. And it seems Apple has reduced "Spaces" wording to when assigning applications, you'll see "every Space" instead of "every Desktop."

You don't have to crawl through the mess that is the control panel to get the CHOICE of not restarting your computer to update

You're implying you have to go into the Control Panel at all. Hit the Windows key, type "Update" into the Start menu, click once and there are all the settings for automatic updates, including the ability to turn it off entirely. Which is not all that different from opening Spotlight, typing "Update" and being able to alter all the Software Update settings without having to once use System Preferences navigation.

Vista was sold as a fully blown OS when in actual fact it was a $1000(NZ) beta (Ultimate edition).

I don't know where in New Zealand you were purchasing vista ultimate but if you payed $1000 New Zealand you were getting ripped off. We purchased vista ultimate within a week of launch at harvey norman up Morehouse ave in Christchurch and we payed $514.49NZ for the full version, just checked our docket. So you need to check your sources buddy. Beta is your opinion as we never had a problem with vista and nether did the majority of people. Stop trying to antagonize people. This is not a windows site so no one wants to hear your opinion on anything Microsoft or Windows when its not constructive.

If you don't want to see the updates, turn off the automatic update function/
Why? Are you embarssed that OS X needs fixes applied to it? Get over it, OS X isn't perfect.
No, it implies that MS provides a discount to a customer that purchases a large number of their products, I think you will find that all companies do this for their customers.

My experience is that Vista demands far more frequent updates than OS X Snow Leopard.
Of course to be fair I should be comparing Snow Leopard to Windows 7 or Vista to Leopard.

Yes, no software is perfect.

Back to the subject to hand, it's only natural that there are plenty of bugs within the developer preview, Lion is still a work in progress.

I don't know where in New Zealand you were purchasing vista ultimate but if you payed $1000 New Zealand you were getting ripped off. We purchased vista ultimate within a week of launch at harvey norman up Morehouse ave in Christchurch and we payed $514.49NZ for the full version, just checked our docket. So you need to check your sources buddy. Beta is your opinion as we never had a problem with vista and nether did the majority of people. Stop trying to antagonize people. This is not a windows site so no one wants to hear your opinion on anything Microsoft or Windows when its not constructive.

My only concern with Mission Control is 1) the inability ability to rearrange the Desktops and fullscreen apps order and 2) the ability to rename the Desktops to something more instructive.

So far it looks like Apple is going with the "as used" approach to ordering spaces. Intead of manually ordering the spaces, it works like the multitask bar in iOS: the items that get used move to the front of the line.
For example, if you full screen mail (in the third space over), move to the first space, and click it in the dock, it will move to the right of the first space (making Mail occupy the the second spaces location). The same goes for other Spaces, if you are in a Space and click an application in another space, the space (containing the application you just clicked) will move to the right of your current Space before shifting over.

I don't like this method because I need things to stay in order instead of getting swapped around.

Not even the same comparison. Sure, Apple sold OSX 10 to the public in a still needed a lot of work state, however, Apple made OS 9 the default operating system until OS 10.1.2 shipped. Apple released OSX 10.0 so the Mac faithful who were clamourig for the new OS could use it and provide needed feedback. When you bought a new Mac though, OS 9 booted up.

With Vista, Microsoft did something different. It scrapped its previous OS plans after seeing OSX Tiger. It went back to the drawing board. After constant criticism of not shipping an OS on schedule as promised Microsoft released Vista as the primary OS. Computers old with Vista as the only boot up option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quillz

Mac OS X 10.0

All OS have bugs, there is no perfect software.

Speaking of bugs, I've still found that the contextual menus in System Preferences do nothing. This was reported in the previous build and still hasn't been fixed yet. Other bugs that still persist are the vectored cursors and videos not working properly in iTunes (although the latter was noted in the seed notes.)